Undue Influence - The Arab lobby

Undue Influence
by Nancy Matthis and Max Rugemer at American Daughter

The Arab lobby has taken over from the long time powerhouse Brit lobby for giving us BAD advice. The Saudi-led Arab lobby has been funding our universities, shmoozing the Washington elite, and suckering the gullible New York Times with money they reap from our dependence on their oil. And they have achieved surprising success, considering that 15 of the 19 terrorists who attacked the Twin Towers were Saudis.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal donated $20 million each to Harvard and Georgetown Universities "to promote interfaith understanding." For Georgetown, the gift was the second-largest ever received. Cornell University, Stanford University, and Texas A&M University are partnering with a Saudi university, lured by one of the world's largest supercomputers (guess where the money for that came from).

Charming (as a snake is charming) Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al Jubeir (appointed 2007) has been shaping the American dialog since 9-11. As the Saudi foreign policy advisor he was Time's Person of the Week in December 2002 after visiting Charlie Rose, PBS Neshour, ABC Nightline, and Fox News in one day, was again a guest on Charlie Rose in 2003, charmed CNN's Wolf Blitzer in 2004 and captivated Blitzer again in 2005, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of North Texas in 2006, hosted a glittering reception at the Saudi's American embassy in 2007, mesmerized Christian and Jewish leaders with an interfaith conference in 2008, and continues to entrain decision-makers in Washington, DC.

King Abdullah pulled out all the stops for Hillary Clinton's February visit:
RAWDAT KHURAYIM, Saudi Arabia — The king of Saudi Arabia had Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton over for a friendly lunch Monday here at his desert camp, northeast of Riyadh. In a gesture of informality, King Abdullah reached for his remote control and switched on a giant flat-screen TV as soon as they sat down to eat at the vast horseshoe-shaped table.

With sports scores and highlights from a soccer match blaring from the screen, the king and Mrs. Clinton chatted over a buffet of lamb, rice, hummus and other dishes. At times, they lapsed into silence and stared at the TV, which, as if on cue, covered Mrs. Clinton’s visit to Saudi Arabia....
He sent his ultraluxurious tour bus to pick up Mrs. Clinton at the airport for the hourlong drive to his camp. The foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, regaled her with jokes and stories about camels on the way....

And so it goes. Not everyone is taken in. The New York Post carries this article today -- The Arab lobby, Racking up the victories:
The legend of the Jewish lobby's influence over US policies continues to grow -- even as the Arab lobby, led by the Saudis, keeps racking up successes.

With petrodollars and tender loving care spent lavishly on universities, ex-diplomats, PR firms and gullible journalists, the Arab Lobby constantly pushes two contradictory story lines:
* Arabs seek peace with Israel.
* There's no place for a Jewish state in the Middle East.

This week, Saudi-led Arab countries have convinced Western reporters that they're advancing the peace process with Israel. Meanwhile, universities in America, Canada, Europe and the Arab world are marking "Israeli Apartheid Week" -- a vile campaign meant to return the "Zionism is racism" equation to the top of the world's agenda....

And then there's our good old Rudy Giuliani, who rejected a $10 million Saudi donation because it came with a revisionist storyline attached:

Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday the city would not accept a $10 million donation for disaster relief from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the September 11 attacks.

"I entirely reject that statement," Giuliani said. "There is no moral equivalent for this [terrorist] act. There is no justification for it. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification for it when they slaughtered 4,000 or 5,000 innocent people."

As citizens, we need to be extremely alert to both the overt and the subtle influences that shape our thinking and form the world-views of our children in the nation's schools. In this, the mainstream media and our school systems have largely failed us. Until we can reform these moribund institutions, we must keep informed ourselves and make an intense effort to educate our own children against undue influence.